St Andrew's Mission Hospital to run 3 eldercare facilities in east

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (centre left) receives a token of appreciation from The Right Reverend Rennis Ponniah at a charity dinner held at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia hotel on Oct 25, 2019. PHOTO: CMG

Saint Andrew's Mission Hospital (SAMH) has been appointed by the Ministry of Health to be the integrated operator of three eldercare facilities in the east.

The hospital will be in charge of running a nursing home with a co-located senior care centre in Tampines North that will open in 2022, as well as a pair of active ageing hubs in Bedok North and Bedok South that will open in 2022 and 2021 respectively.

The hospital said yesterday that the arrangement will allow it to build a "continuum of care" to support residents in the east.

"With these three facilities clustered around St Andrew's Community Hospital and its acute hospital partner, Changi General Hospital, there is an opportunity to build a pioneering continuum of care to support eastern residents, from acute hospital care to community and long-term care," said the hospital.

Dr Arthur Chern, group chief executive of the hospital and the Singapore Anglican Community Services (SACS), said that the two organisations currently serve over 22,000 people through their integrated social and health services.

This has been made possible with the support of their donors and partner organisations.

The two organisations yesterday hosted a charity dinner at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore hotel.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat attended the event as its guest of honour.

Dr Chern said that this year, over $900,000 has been raised from the SAMH-SACS Charity Dinner.

"The money raised will be used to fund the growing community programmes under SAMH and SACS, with a special focus on our new services: St Andrew's Nursing Home at Tampines North, the co-located St Andrew's Senior Care, as well as St Andrew's Senior Care at Bedok North and Bedok South," he said.

In his speech at the event yesterday, Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, held up the work that the organisations have done, and said the Government is "deeply" appreciative of the Anglican community's efforts to serve and care for the community.

He added: "You have galvanised those in the community to give back, whether through volunteering their time or resources. In this way, you strengthen a sense of mutual care and shared ownership over our future Singapore."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 26, 2019, with the headline St Andrew's Mission Hospital to run 3 eldercare facilities in east. Subscribe